Michael Clayton

Psychological Drama + splash of Legal Thriller + George Clooney = arresting film

Let me tell you, George Clooney was made to wear suits! I can't explain it better than he just looks fabulous and at home in them, even if he is hauling it up a wooded hill. (No spoilers, but when you do get to that particular scene, I think you will find it tense, but also emotionally satisfying and perhaps oddly compelling; I did.)

"Legal Thriller" is not my cup of tea. I have never read a John Grisham book (although I seem to have seen almost all of the movie adaptations of them.) and don't really intend too. I didn't think A Civil Action was particularly noteworthy, nor did I go gaga over The Insider. Nope, high fantasy is more to my taste. Even though I walked in to the film more than a little biased, I realized that the movie was more an exploration of the characters than a story bogged down in Erin Brockovich-ian chemistry details, minus the flip, sassy fun. "Exploration of character" sounds terribly boring, but Clooney manages to keep his "legal bag man" role real; this guy is actually relate-able and not smarmy, as one would expect.

Tom Wilkinson is cringe-worthy in his manic madness, which only proves to me that he is a good actor, even if I don't always enjoy seeing his characters (Normal, anyone?!? What a spiritually yucky movie). I do have to ask; what was up with the 6 bottles of Lysol on his butcher's block of a kitchen counter? I think they served two purposes:
1) To show how bonkers his character was and
2) To secure more product-placement revenue to offset the production budget.
I personally kept waiting for him to down it all in a fit of suicidal madness, but it wasn't really that kind of movie.

Tilda Swinton was great, as always, but how in the world did they make her look fat? Seriously, she is almost bone. The jacket she was wearing in her last scene did the trick, and was horridly atrocious. Her acting, however, was fantastic! It was fascinating to see her tightly controlled exterior come crashing down. Along the way, we were treated with snippets of scenes of her prepping for her day, working through her carefully-delivered wording as Head Councilor for a multinational corporation. I think Ms. Swinton turned a character who could have been an automaton on the page into someone the audience can almost feel sympathy for.
To me, she is a magnetic curiosity; I feel compelled to watch her. My favorite role of hers was the splendidly andogynous Gabriel in Constantine, but judging from IMDB, she is the go-to actress for indy gender-bending. Terrific; I can hardly think of a better person to do it (although Cate Blanchett may give Tilda a run for her money in I'm Not There.)

--Note: There is more text to follow, but I have recently been informed that my posts are "insanely long", so I will break off here and add a "comment" that contains the rest of my review. I also promise that it will be less gossip-y from here on out, focusing more on the plot and structure of the movie.--